Publications: Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics

^* joint first author ^# joint corresponding author

2026

Marion K Raich, Fridtjof Brauns, Tamara Müller, Maximilian Reichert, Andreas R Bausch
Multicellular rosette formation guides epithelial tissue assembly in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cell organoids.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U.S.A., 123(37) Art. No. e2512284123 (2026)
Open Access DOI

Mesenchymal-to-epithelial transitions are essential for epithelial tissue formation and thus the development of functional organs. Here, we demonstrate that the transition from a disordered mesenchymal state to a columnar epithelial structure in branched pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma organoids is associated with rosette formation. We show that fluctuations in acto-myosin contractions on the emerging apical side of branches with high cell density create a tug-of-war mechanism, leading to regular spacing of rosettes. The distance between adjacent rosettes depends on the branch diameter, which we validate with a minimal theoretical model based on apical constriction. The resulting lumen formation occurs through the apoptosis of an inner cell mass, leaving an epithelial layer lining the cavity. In summary, our findings show that rosette architecture is set by geometrical confinement of the cell nuclei in combination with acto-myosin driven contractions. This underscores the critical role of mechanical processes in self-organized assembly of epithelial tissue.

Isabella Burda, Fridtjof Brauns, Aaron Shipman, Emily Shapland, Lilan Hong, Adrienne H K Roeder
ROS inhibits microtubule dynamics and cell growth heterogeneity during Arabidopsis sepal morphogenesis.
iScience, 29(7) Art. No. 116426 (2026)
Open Access DOI

Developing organs grow to reproducible sizes and shapes, yet the growth of their constituent cells can be highly heterogeneous and fluctuating. During wild-type Arabidopsis thaliana sepal development, fluctuations in cell growth average because the fluctuations are not strongly correlated spatially or temporally, and so the sepals grow to uniform sizes and shapes. In contrast, the sepals of the ftsh4-5 mutant develop to variable sizes and shapes. F ts H4 encodes a mitochondrial i-AAA protease. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulate in ftsh4-5 mutants, and lowering ROS levels rescues the sepal size and shape variability. Here, we find that elevated ROS promotes correlated growth fluctuations and causes cortical microtubules to become more "crisscrossed" and stable. The growth rates of the cells with crisscrossed microtubules are lower and more correlated in time, which impairs spatiotemporal averaging of growth. This suggests that ROS affects microtubule dynamics and cell growth fluctuations, which are necessary for robust morphogenesis.

John Berezney, Sattvic Ray, Itamar Kolvin, Fridtjof Brauns, Sihan Chen, Mark Bowick, Seth Fraden, Vincenzo Vitelli, Zvonimir Dogic
Active assembly and non-reciprocal dynamics of elastic membranes
Nature Physics 22, 604-611 (2026)
DOI

Fridtjof Brauns, Myles O’Leary, Arthur Hernandez, Mark J Bowick, M Cristina Marchetti
Active Solids: Topological Defect Self-Propulsion Without Flow
Physical Review Letters 136 (5), 058302 (2026)
DOI

Nikolas H Claussen, Fridtjof Brauns, Boris I Shraiman
Tissue shape from cell-scale active tensions
arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.14467 (2026)

Nikolas H Claussen, Fridtjof Brauns, Boris I Shraiman
Emergent Elasticity and Quasiconformal Flow in Active Solids
arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.08968 (2026)

Toshi Parmar, Fridtjof Brauns, Yimin Luo, M Cristina Marchetti
Proliferating nematic that collectively senses an anisotropic substrate
PRX Life 4 (1), 013010 (2026)
DOI

2025

Pengyu Yu, Fridtjof Brauns, M Cristina Marchetti
Feedback-controlled epithelial mechanics: emergent soft elasticity and active yielding
arXiv preprint arXiv:2511.04189 (2025)

Nikolas Claussen, Fridtjof Brauns, Sebastian J Streichan
Searching for physical principles of morphogenesis
Development 152 (21), dev204894 (2025)
DOI

Raymond Adkins, Joanna Robaszewski, Seungwoo Shin, Fridtjof Brauns, Leroy Jia, Ayantika Khanra, Prerna Sharma, Robert A Pelcovits, Thomas R Powers, Zvonimir Dogic
Topology and kinetic pathways of colloidosome assembly and disassembly
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 122 (36), e2427024122 (2025)
DOI

Nikolas H Claussen, Fridtjof Brauns
Mean-Field Model for Active Plastic Flow of Epithelial Tissue
PRX Life 3 (2), 023002 (2025)
DOI

Gerhard Gompper, Howard A Stone, Christina Kurzthaler, David Saintillan, Fernado Peruani, Dmitry A Fedosov, Thorsten Auth, Cecile Cottin-Bizonne, Christophe Ybert, Eric Clément, Thierry Darnige, Anke Lindner, Raymond E Goldstein, Benno Liebchen, Jack Binysh, Anton Souslov, Lucio Isa, Roberto Di Leonardo, Giacomo Frangipane, Hongri Gu, Bradley J Nelson, Fridtjof Brauns, M Cristina Marchetti, Frank Cichos, Veit-Lorenz Heuthe, Clemens Bechinger, Amos Korman, Ofer Feinerman, Andrea Cavagna, Irene Giardina, Hannah Jeckel, Knut Drescher
The 2025 motile active matter roadmap
Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter 37 (14), 143501 (2025)
DOI

2024

Isabella Burda, Fridtjof Brauns, Frances K Clark, Chun-Biu Li, Adrienne HK Roeder
Robust organ size in Arabidopsis is primarily governed by cell growth rather than cell division patterns
Development 151 (19), dev202531 (2024)
DOI

Nikolas H Claussen, Fridtjof Brauns, Boris I Shraiman
A Geometric Tension Dynamics Model of Epithelial Convergent Extension
PNAS 121 (40), e2321928121 (2024)
DOI

Fridtjof Brauns, Nikolas H Claussen, Matthew F Lefebvre, Eric F Wieschaus, Boris I Shraiman
The Geometric Basis of Epithelial Convergent Extension
eLife 13, RP95521 (2024)
DOI

Fridtjof Brauns, M Cristina Marchetti
Nonreciprocal pattern formation of conserved fields
Physical Review X 14 (2), 021014 (2024)
DOI

2023

Henrik Weyer, Fridtjof Brauns, Erwin Frey
Coarsening and wavelength selection far from equilibrium: a unifying framework based on singular perturbation theory
Physical Review E 108 (6), 064202 (2023)
DOI

Fridtjof Brauns, Leila M Iñigo de la Cruz, Werner K-G Daalman, Ilse de Bruin, Jacob Halatek, Liedewij Laan, Erwin Frey
Redundancy and the role of protein copy numbers in the cell polarization machinery of budding yeast
Nature Communications 14 (1), 6504 (2023)
DOI

Zihang Wang, M Cristina Marchetti, Fridtjof Brauns
Patterning of morphogenetic anisotropy fields
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 120 (13), e2220167120 (2023)
DOI

Sabrina Meindlhumer, Fridtjof Brauns, Jernej Rudi Finžgar, Jacob Kerssemakers, Cees Dekker, Erwin Frey
Directing Min protein patterns with advective bulk flow
Nature Communications 14 (1), 450 (2023)
DOI

Matthew F Lefebvre, Jonathan Colen, Nikolas H Claussen, Fridtjof Brauns, Marion K Raich, Noah Mitchell, Michel Fruchart, Vincenzo Vitelli, Sebastian J Streichan
Learning a conserved mechanism for early neuroectoderm morphogenesis
bioRxiv, 2023.12. 22.573058 (2023)

2022

Moritz Striebel, Fridtjof Brauns, Erwin Frey
Length Regulation Drives Self-Organization in Filament-Motor Mixtures
Physical Review Letters 129 (23), 238102 (2022)
DOI

Erwin Frey, Fridtjof Brauns
Self-organisation of protein patterns
Active Matter and Nonequilibrium Statistical Physics: Lecture Notes of the … (2022)

Laeschkir Würthner, Fridtjof Brauns, Grzegorz Pawlik, Jacob Halatek, Jacob Kerssemakers, Cees Dekker, Erwin Frey
Bridging scales in a multiscale pattern-forming system
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119 (33), e2206888119 (2022)
DOI

2021

Fridtjof Brauns
Thesis: Principles and theory of protein-based pattern formation
Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich

Fridtjof Brauns, Grzegorz Pawlik, Jacob Halatek, Jacob Kerssemakers, Erwin Frey, Cees Dekker
Bulk-surface coupling identifies the mechanistic connection between Min-protein patterns in vivo and in vitro
Nature communications 12 (1), 1-11 (2021)
DOI

Manon C Wigbers, Tzer Han Tan, Fridtjof Brauns, Jinghui Liu, S Zachary Swartz, Erwin Frey, Nikta Fakhri
A hierarchy of protein patterns robustly decodes cell shape information
Nature Physics 17 (5), 578-584 (2021)
DOI

Fridtjof Brauns, Jacob Halatek, Erwin Frey
Diffusive coupling of two well-mixed compartments elucidates elementary principles of protein-based pattern formation
Physical Review Research 3 (1), 013258 (2021)
DOI

Fridtjof Brauns, Henrik Weyer, Jacob Halatek, Junghoon Yoon, Erwin Frey
Wavelength selection by interrupted coarsening in reaction-diffusion systems
Physical Review Letters 126, 104101 (2021)
DOI

2020

Fridtjof Brauns, Jacob Halatek, Erwin Frey
Phase-Space Geometry of Mass-Conserving Reaction-Diffusion Dynamics
Physical Review X 10 (4), 041036 (2020)
DOI

Manon C Wigbers, Fridtjof Brauns, Ching Yee Leung, Erwin Frey
Flow Induced Symmetry Breaking in a Conceptual Polarity Model
Cells 9 (6), 1524 (2020)
DOI

Manon C Wigbers, Fridtjof Brauns, Tobias Hermann, Erwin Frey
Pattern localization to a domain edge
Physical Review E 101 (2), 022414 (2020)
DOI

2019

Philipp Glock, Fridtjof Brauns, Jacob Halatek, Erwin Frey, Petra Schwille
Design of biochemical pattern forming systems from minimal motifs
Elife 8, e48646 (2019)
DOI

2018

Katharina Dürre, Felix C Keber, Philip Bleicher, Fridtjof Brauns, Christian J Cyron, Jan Faix, Andreas R Bausch
Capping protein-controlled actin polymerization shapes lipid membranes
Nature communications 9 (1), 1-11 (2018)
DOI

Jacob Halatek, Fridtjof Brauns, Erwin Frey
Self-organization principles of intracellular pattern formation
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 373 (1747), 20170107 (2018)
DOI